Catching “Honey Pounding” on Camera

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

by Lincoln Park Zoo

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Goualougo Triangle Field Diaries

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The BBC production crew looking to document honey pounding poses with the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project field staff.

Last February, a producer and two cameramen from the Natural History unit of the British Broadcasting Corporation arrived at the Goualougo basecamp ready to shoot one of the last sequences of the six-part epic series “Africa.” Initial inquiries about filming in Goualougo had started long before, in late 2010, and now the time had finally come to get down to work and show the world why Goualougo chimpanzees and their forest home are so special.

That night, as we gathered around the Goualougo campfire, the producer presented a story board to describe to the trackers (via my translation) specifically what BBC producers back in a distant place called England were expecting to be filmed during this 21-day visit. It looked like a comic book of inked sketches of chimpanzees, wildlife and forest.

I’d already made sure my team was well aware and psyched-up for this special visit. We knew the main task at hand was filming chimpanzees using large tools while going after honey. However, I hadn’t prepared them—and I wasn’t prepared myself—for what was expected of us.

Zoo researcher and Goualougo Triangle Ape Project co-director Dave Morgan poses with one of the cameras.

Simply put, the honey-pounding sequence would not be enough on its own. Instead, it would serve as the culminating event of a story supported by social drama and adventure as told through the eyes of a single chimpanzee. There have been few occasions where Crickette and I observed the GTAP tracking team dispersing to bed so quietly.

It was far from certain the BBC would even get a honey-pounding sequence meriting a position in their “blue chip” nature documentary. That first night we were also provided a sneak preview of raw footage filmed by other BBC teams in the Kalahari and Cape. They were extraordinary scenes of animal behavior. Clearly considerable time and effort were required to pull off such novel sequences.

But we had done our homework too, and the pieces for the Goualougo contribution were already coming to plan. The first came in the form of a glorious zahna tree which was just starting to fruit. This tree certainly had the potential to act as a magnet—attractive to apes, monkeys, duikers (a small forest antelope), birds and even the very amusing red river forest hogs, which are recognized by their clown-like faces and just-as-humorous behavior.

Within days we had “cased” the tree, placing a small filming platform high in the canopy of a neighboring that provided full view of the zahna treetop and any activity that might unfold. Remote-controlled high-definition cameras and the necessary blind for the control center were positioned below, enabling possible filming of wildlife activity on the forest floor.

At the same time, a variety of trees were flowering. The abundance of honey in the Congo canopy was increasing by the day—and with it, our chances of observing some chimpanzee going after it.

Goualougo Triangle Ape Project Camp Assistant Marcel Meguessa poses with BBC cameraman James Aldred in the control center for filming.

That someone was a chimpanzee in the Moto community named “Emma,” a subadult female who had a friendly relationship with an adult female named “Dorothy” and her young male offspring named “Oz”. Together, Emma and Dorothy were easily the most skilled honey gathers of the Moto community. They represented our best chance at filming television-quality footage of this behavior for the first time with. For the rest of the film shoot, it was our job to find and maintain contact with this dynamic tool-using duo.

This proved a daunting—and fatiguing—challenge as we spent the better part of the next two weeks in and out of infrequent contact with them. Our team of four was just enough to port the heavy camera gear and tripod through the forest without causing too large a disturbance. On two occasions we missed honey-pounding sequences by Emma while rushing to the reported location! As the departure date for the film shoot approached, we all began to wonder deep down if the unthinkable would happen and we would come up empty handed.

This all changed three days before departure when we found Emma, Dorothy and Oz quietly sitting in a thicket. We proceeded to follow them for a half mile until they exited the dense undergrowth. To our great excitement, they were at our magnet zahna tree!

Leaving the chimpanzees in their nests at the zahna tree that night, we began to plan what would become one of the most exciting days in our Goualougo history. We arrived back at the tree the next morning at 4:50 a.m. while the chimpanzees were still asleep. We quietly stationed one of the cameramen in the tree platform.

As the morning unfolded, Emma, Dorothy and Oz were filmed socializing as well as contently feeding on the remaining fruits. This changed rapidly, though, when a confident silverback gorilla strode up to the base of the tree and powered his way up into the canopy, taking no time to displace the party of chimpanzees from the choicest feeding location. All this captured on film!

With feeding opportunities quickly diminishing at this food patch, Emma turned her sights to an alternative food source: honey. To our great anticipation and excitement, Emma quickly found an enormous triplochiton tree, a species typically home to several beehives. Within minutes of accessing the canopy, as we set up the tripod and cameraman, she found a hive.

With the film rolling Emma briefly inspected the beehive entrance and then was off to fashion her first of several tools: a large pounding club. After hammering away at the hive entrance, she followed with a second tool, a smaller “lever-opening stick.” This was followed by a fluid-dip stick, which she eagerly licked honey off after insertions into the hive.

A mother carrying a baby pines a hive for honey up in the Goualougo treetops.

It was just the scene we’d been looking to capture, and we were thrilled the camera crew was able to capture it all on film. We’re still proud today as the series is released on the Discovery Channel in the United States.

Crickette and I are in Africa now, so we can’t watch it live. But we have the privilege of seeing the real thing all around us—and we look forward to watching the wonderful film version the next time we return to the States.